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Re: Where to buy Japanese manga online

I have come to give my feedback on one of the sellers listed there.

Sasugabooks - They are awesome. They do special requests, so if they don't have it in the their listing, e-mail info@sasugabooks.com and request it... They'll give you a link within two days for you to buy. Then they order it from japan (1-2 weeks), then they send it to your house (1 week)... they only charge you for the shipping from their factory in the USA. So it's about $4+ for shipping.

Psyren volume 2 is currently on its way :]

About the "overpriced" prices... I think they're fair, considering how you are not paying for the shipping from Japan.. Psyren v1 on amazon was at 410yen, that's $3.82, I bought it from SB at $6, and $4 for shipping...

Better than paying $30+ for shipping from japan, which is what it showed when I tried to place an order :x

Re: Where to buy Japanese manga online

If I dont care about time, is there a reason to go for SAL instead of Sea. Is SAL safer??? I'm trying 11 manga (xxxHOLiC) and I've calculated that it will be about 2880 grams. I want to do Sea, but Im scared it isn't safe.

Re: Where to buy Japanese manga online

I've never had experience with sea shipments, but they're usually safe. It's just the anxiety of not receiving your items for 2-3 months.

SAL is economy air, which means they ship your items only when there's room for them in the air cargo. So, it's as good as air and it depends on your luck. With big orders like yours, it may be slower.

If your calculation on the weight is correct, compare the shipping charges between SAL (3080yen) and Sea (2160yen). Personally, I'd pay the 960yen difference just to get my books a month faster. ^^ Especially when you think about it as less than 100yen per book. >D

Re: Where to buy Japanese manga online

SAL's been pretty slow lately... I heard it has something to do with the airlines cutting flights :/ My magazines haven't arrived after 5 weeks from it was sent.

Here's my updated suggestions:

1. Get your monthly/bimonthly magazine subscriptions from Sasuga Books:
The magazines usually arrive 1 week to 10 days after the publish date. For the cost/speed consideration, it's pretty good deal.

2. Get your weekly magazine subscriptions from BK1, with EMS as delivery method:
If you're buying weekly magazines... chances are that you wouldn't want to have it arrive 1 week late... And since Sasuga Books doesn't offer EMS, the next best place is BK1.

3. Tanks, pick your bet between BK1 or Sasuga Books:
While Sasuga books allows you to special order, BK1 is faster with a bit more cost.
With the same order of:
D.Gray-man Guide Book (667 Yen)
3 Shonen Jump Tanks (390 Yen each)

Sasuga Books would cost about 32USD (ignoring the 7USD shipping, since it's likely that you'll try to get it to the 40 dollar order for free shipping), with the item arriving somewhere between a week to a month, depending on the availability of the items. And then you can take off 10% because you get to convert it with the frequent buyer program card... that's 29 dollars, with the books coming in a week to a month.

BK1 would cost about 3877 Yen if you use EMS, which is about 36 dollars. Your items would arrive in 3~5 days (assuming all of them are in-stock, otherwise it might take an extra day or two, or even weeks if the item is listed as needing weeks to restock). However, BK1 sends out coupons for 100 or 300 deduction off your 3000+ orders, and 1% of the cost would convert into usable "points". The end cost would be 3542 Yen, which would be 33 dollars, arriving in 3 days to 2 weeks

Bottom line: Depending on your need, I'd say pick between Sasuga Books and BK1. NEVER EVER ORDER FROM AMAZON UNLESS YOU REALLY HAVE TO!!! Amazon Japan really rips off international customers... = ="